Chess Player Sues FIDE For Not Giving Him The GM Title

[Chris Rice]

Interesting case of Italian player, Braga, suing FIDE as he believes he should have been awarded the GM title. The case is currently underway at the Court of Arbitration CAS 2017/A/5073 Fernando Braga vs World Chess Federation (FIDE). Braga is claiming that FIDE are stringing it out so he runs out of money to fight the case though why FIDE would be so underhand rather than give him the GM title is not that clear.

[Chris Rice]

Emil Sutovsky on FB: "Very unusual story. I don't have enough information to take sides here, but I think FIDE has to be consistent in its attitude. It has awarded the GM title to the dozens of players who fulfilled the norms in the rigged tournaments. Some of them were fixed, some of them existed only on paper. And FIDE didn't bother. Here they may be right technically, but then again, we'd expect them to be as principled on many other occasions. This selectivity is truly annoying."

[NickFaulks]

Emil Sutovsky on FB: "Very unusual story. I don't have enough information to take sides here, but I think FIDE has to be consistent in its attitude. It has awarded the GM title to the dozens of players who fulfilled the norms in the rigged tournaments. Some of them were fixed, some of them existed only on paper. And FIDE didn't bother. "

Wouldn't it be nice if he came forward with a bit of evidence for once, or even encouraged ACP members to do so. Fat chance.

[Brian Towers]

If Braga wins his case, which basically seems to hinge on norms gained back in the 90's, would that open the door for any untitled older English players with GM or IM norms from the same period?

[Ian Thompson]

If Braga wins his case, which basically seems to hinge on norms gained back in the 90's

I think there's also a dependency on his claim that he's met the 2500 rating requirement, which seems dubious to me. He's never had a published, or interim, rating of 2500, but claims he would have done if two tournaments he played in the late-90s had been rated. FIDE say the tournaments can't be included in the calculation of his rating because they were never submitted for rating by the organisers. He claims they should be included because there is good evidence they took place. Allowing that aspect of the claim would put FIDE in a very difficult position. How many other people have narrowly missed out on meeting a rating requirement due to tournaments not being rated correctly, or at all?

[Roger de Coverly]

would that open the door for any untitled older English players with GM or IM norms from the same period?

Unlikely I would think. The ECF Director in charge of rating submissions at the time FIDE imposed a submit it or lose it policy, went to exceptional lengths to document all Norm performances even where there was little likelihood of the player concerned being able to fill in the other missing gaps in their personal achievements. Contemporary observations are on this forum.

It might have helped England's most recent IM qualifier to have his performances from 20 years ago properly documented.

[LawrenceCooper]

would that open the door for any untitled older English players with GM or IM norms from the same period?

Unlikely I would think. The ECF Director in charge of rating submissions at the time FIDE imposed a submit it or lose it policy, went to exceptional lengths to document all Norm performances even where there was little likelihood of the player concerned being able to fill in the other missing gaps in their personal achievements. Contemporary observations are on this forum.

It might have helped England's most recent IM qualifier to have his performances from 20 years ago properly documented.

This one? https://ratings.fide.com/title_norms.ph ... 9&title=IM

[Alex Holowczak]

FIDE say the tournaments can't be included in the calculation of his rating because they were never submitted for rating by the organisers. He claims they should be included because there is good evidence they took place.

There are hundreds of tournaments all over England every year where there is "good evidence they took place". However, they deliberately aren't FIDE-rated. I wonder if the organisers registered their tournaments with FIDE by the appropriate deadline?

Also, why not argue about this 20 years ago?

[Nick Grey]

What are the time limits for these type of claims? it is probably out of time. Ought to have been raised with the organisers.

Think about our ECF grading database & reports. There is not 20 years worth of information publically accessible.